Wednesday, September 30, 2015

President Cups 2015

2nd British
Presidents Cup

Event City Manchester

First in the South now in the
North, the Presidents Cup is travelling around England to promote Sambo.
Manchester is a very vibrant City their Town Hall where there was a reception
was spectacular as were the Manchurian people.

The Presidents Cup was in the format of a real sports show and festival,
best described by two words: beauty and friendship.

It promoted
Sambo not just as a sport but also as a day of entertainment this is a response
from One of the Spectators, an ex Army student of CombatSombo
mine he is a very high graded Martial Arts Players specialising in Defendo he
made a rather interesting comment

Dan Diamond

"
Martin as you know I have been all over the World and seen many Martial Arts
Tournaments but this has to be the best ever and the reason Why is that you
managed to make a standard style tournament into an entertainment event. with
great lighting, music commentary laser show it has been brilliant"

Danny Carrott scoring

Just before the start of the
competition, the organisers surprised spectators and participants with an
exciting laser show and a performance by the famous British DJ with the stage
name “Liv Knight” aka Elizabeth Knight. Liv Knight, one of the five best DJs in
England, has just returned from Las Vegas, where she successfully performed a
series of concerts.Event City was
packed, just like the previous year. And once again, as in 2014, the audience
included a lot of Britons of all ages - seniors, teenagers, families with
children and middle-aged people

GB Team

The
British Sombo Federation part in this spectacular was to supply Table
Officials, Marshals, Referees and most importantly to select the British Team
who were Debbie Jackson, Emma Herd, Bradley Belsey, Casey Belsey, Dan Diamond,
Danny Carrott, Danny Roberts and Coach John Clarke. Last year the GB Team were
pooled with 3 commonwealth Teams, they won only to lose to the Russians. This
year there was just 6 teams but the British Pool was a lot harder they had a
strong team from Spain and a Commonwealth Combined Team consisting of Canada,
Trinidad & Tobago, Cyprus and Australia. Their first match was against
Spain who they beat 6 to 1.

Father and Son

The next match was to be a hard one, which was
against the Commonwealth and the match, which was to decide whether we could go
through was the 74k featuring Englishman Dan Diamond in his first International
Competition in the Sambo. Dan had looked very impressive in his match with the
Spaniard but both Dan and Team Coach John Clarke knew his match with the
Commonwealth competitor was to be a hard one. John had done a very good job
coaching the British team and is very passionate so when the Spanish Referee
made a debateable call, John made a very vocal and impassioned plea to the Mat
Chairman to no avail. The British Team and the British Audience were sure there
had been a mistake but there were 3 referees and there decision has to stand
right or wrong, as you cannot have outside influences effecting the judgement
of the referees.

GB
wenton to beat the German Team to take
a well deserved Bronze

Combat Sambo Belt

The British were waiting impatiently for final
round of Combat Sambo, where Clempner was competing. But Mokhnatkin didn’t give
them a chance to enjoy it - a hit and rush following right after it led to a
knockout. The championship belt of the first-ever British Combat Sambo Grand
Slam went to Russia, like the President’s Cup, which the Russian team will take
back home with them tomorrow.

The evening before the Presidents Cup there was a
reception for various dignitaries at the Manchester Town. The Town Hall was a
stunning place if you ever get the chance you must visit. Manchester Town
Hall opened its doors to all guests and
organisers, partners and friends of the tournament. The Town Hall is a
beautiful building in the Gothic Revival style built in 1868. The grounds of
the Town Hall are decorated with sculptures of people who played an important
role in the city’s history, and yesterday inside the building were the elite of
British Sambo - the people who have made and continue to make the history of
this martial art in the UK and the Commonwealth. The reception was attended by
Princess Catherine, who spoke warmly about Sambo as a tool for unifying
countries and peoples at the start of the evening.

Several members of the British Sombo Federation
were honoured by receiving Certificates “For Outstanding Achievements and
Contribution to the Development of Sambo in Great Britain and the World” they
were: